The Third Floor Flat

Once again the episode is distinguished by the "padding": the various extra touches added by the writers to fill out the structure of the original story. And a clever story it is: Poirot finds that the charming young lady who lives directly below him has lost the key to her apartment. Her boyfriend and his buddy decide to break in via the small elevator used to deliver coal to the kitchen. But they accidentally enter the wrong kitchen and discover a dead body. Can Poirot and Hastings figure out who killed the woman who lived in the third floor flat? The short answer, not surprisingly, is yes, and in very quick order too. But beyond that are the clever little touches: the fact that Poirot, having caught a cold, is being more petulant than usual, the wager he makes with Hastings over the solution to a murder mystery play, and Hastings' distress over the very unfortunate result when the murderer tries to make his escape. Best line of the evening: "He'll need a whole new front end." Ce pauvre Hastings!

Dumb waiter to wrong floor--find body.

Very sneaky poirot engine should NOT have been steaming at end.

In "The Third Floor Flat", a downstairs neighbor of Poirot's is found murdered. How they found it is most unusual. The woman in the floor above cannot find her key and her boyfriend and his friend use the dumb waiter system in the apartment building to try to get into her apartment. But they end up in a different one...the one below. There, they discover a dead body...an obvious murder victim. While Scotland Yard is out looking for the wrong killer, Poirot and his friends solve the crime and show that one of the folks involved is NOT who they say they are.

This is a very tightly written and interesting episode. Well worth seeing and I appreciate how it's a bit shorter than some episodes...but that suits the story well.

Poirot is not in high spirits, a combination of man flu and no cases. To raise his spirits Hastings takes Poirot to the Theatre to watch a murder mystery. Whilst at the Theatre a murder occurs at Whitehaven Mansions, it's new resident Ernestine Grant, who's body is accidentally discovered by fellow Theatre goers Jimmy and Donovan, friends of Poirot's neighbour Miss Matthews. Fortnunately Poirot's grey cells are on hand to clear up the mystery.

It's an excellent episode, one of the best of the early ones. It is an ultra smart looking episodes, the Theatre scenes look wonderfully authentic, clothes and costumes throughout look super smart, it boasts a wonderful attention to detail. It's a very different episode, Poirot deduces the killer's identity swiftly, it's more about how to physically catch the killer then the solving of the crime.

Lots of fun too, I love Poirot's grumblings about his cold, it's a lighthearted start to the episode.

The acting is up to the usual high standard. I did enjoy the appearance, albeit brief one from Josie Lawrence, nice to see her cast in a different kind of role for her.

8/10

I have been a fan of Agatha Christie and Poirot for nearly a decade now. The Third Floor Flat has everything I love about the series in the first place. It is classily made, with splendid photography and scenery, and the music as always is hauntingly beautiful. The script is both clever and witty, and the story is one of the more simpler, more suspenseful and more compelling story lines of the entire series with so much happening and solved in such a short running time. The acting is as great as ever, with the four leads superb especially the definitive Poirot of David Suchet.

All in all, one of the best Poirots as well one of the better short story adaptations(third only perhaps to Wasp's Nest and The Chocolate Box). 9/10 Bethany Cox

Poirot is feeling low with the effects of flu. To cheer him up Hastings takes him to the theatre to watch a murder mystery play. Of course Poirot works out the murderer very easily and has a wager with Hastings.

Maybe Agatha Christie planted an in-joke here, as Poirot is startled that the actual murderer and their motive is not only different from what he thought it would be but it also defied logic.

Poirot spots several residents of Whitehaven Mansions at the play and when they return back to their apartments a body of a new resident is discovered. Poirot is hand to gets his little grey cells working despite his ailments.

The mystery takes time to unravel as it is some time when we actually see a dead body and then the murderer is revealed rather swiftly, with the rest of the episode being a chase as the murderer makes their getaway.

The police, Japp and Poirot actually come across as incompetent running around looking for the murderer as they try to make their escape. Poor Hastings, his car is wrecked in the process.